One user posted an open letter on Facebook urging people to send Walsh decks of playing cards.

"I don't know any nurses who play cards, Senator Walsh. I know nurses who care for babies who were born with their spines on the outside of their bodies and brains that won't stop bleeding,"Shy Braaten wrote in the since-deleted post. "I know nurses who hold infants that can't stop crying because they were born addicted to heroin and methamphetamines."

Walsh apologized for her comments, which came during a debate about a bill that would guarantee uninterrupted breaks and overtime for certain healthcare workers.

"I was tired, and in the heat of argument on the Senate floor, I said some things about nurses that were taken out of context -- but still they crossed the line," Walsh said. "I really don't believe nurses at our critical access hospitals spend their days playing cards, but I did say it, and I wish I could reel it back."